ORIGIN

1-Owner 1966 Volkswagen Fastback

This 1966 Volkswagen Fastback is said to be a 1-owner car with black plates that has been garaged since new. The seller says it has never been in an accident and comes with the old original title, and we like this year for its smaller taillights. Find it here on Craigslist in Northern California for $6o00.

there actually were three different taillight versions. This car has the second version, which came in all red or amber turn signal. Before this they had the same size taillights, but beveled shorter. They may have only been on the very first notchbacks (1963 ?)

We never got a chance to upgrade to one of these when I was little, as we went from beetles right to the buses. A fasty is on my bucket list, that’s for sure… If it was time to get one, then this would be in my garage in a hurry. I don’t think anyone is stressing about the underside pics because they are pretty straight forward to fix.

Exhaust system is a Bugpack 4 into 1 header with a single glasspack muffler. These flow SO much better than the stock system, you keep your heater boxes, and they sound absolutely magical running though the gears. Going under a bridge and shifting at 6k is almost better than sex. You need to bump up the carb jets by two sizes to keep it from going lean (I run a 137.5 main jet), but I bet the new owner will not be able to resist getting on the throttle in tunnels! Downside is that it will stumble if not tuned properly for this exhaust, and it may get a bit boomy with the windows rolled up because of the extra bass in the exhaust note. What I do is use a single quietpack for winter time or long trips, then switch to the glasspack for shows or cruising.

My mother went through a couple of these as they were cheap in the eighties. She loved them in the winter, because of the heaters that threw off heat almost instantly. Dependable beaters, great memories…. If it sold quick, then you’ll see it again…… trying to flip it for double….

Wow…flashback time. Sold a 67 911S to finance college and grad school. A used 66 Squareback was the ticket for the next 14 years. It served well through the years, with an engine rebuild at ~100K. Most memorable moment: Had a bad crash at a bike race in Acton, CA. Lost car keys when I went down. One of the other riders who claimed to be “a VW mechanic”was in the car and had the engine hotwired in about 3 mins. Then got pulled over by CHP on way home. AZ plates (400 miles from home), busted wind wing, bare wires hanging out of the ignition, driver covered with blood from the crash, and a bike on the roof that’s worth more than the car. It was a long day…

I like these; but I’d love to see more Squarebacks than the Notches and Fastbacks that seem to predominate. I just think the Squares are cooler. Still, it’s hard to knock this example. Nice color, good condition, and if it’s truly one-owner, pretty noteworthy. Would be dynamite if it were a Squareback.

Alek-more likely that well preserved car offered at a reasonable price just sold quickly and there’s no reason to return the calls/texts. If it had been an Ebay sale, the buy-it-now flag would have already been flown. After all, lots of us like those tail lights.

Neat collector car preserved by Cali Climate. However these need to be viewed with VERY rosy glasses to be seen as any kind of quality car.

In addition to the engine issues, window issues, and relatively anemic performance, the body is also very thin and not coated in any kind of modern rustproofing materials. In any kind of area with snow, mud, salt, etc., this vehicle will quickly disintegrate unless you only drive it in sun, and keep it in a sealed chamber.

Cute, but there’s a reason you see very few around any more. We owned a bunch of squarebacks in the midwest, and the favorite thing to do in the winter was to heat your feet in the hot water that collected in the rear seat foot wells due to rusty floors and the heat vents.

I briefly owned a battered and bruised one of these. About four years ago I bought it and an equally ratty squareback from a neighbor, who had used them both as daily drivers from the 1970’s until the mid-2000’s, and they looked it. Neither ran, but I got the fastback going quite easily and drove it around the neighborhood occasionally before selling both cars about three years ago. It had the automatic transmission, which doesn’t have a good reputation but I found quite surprisingly good. The car was very peppy and fun to drive at non-freeway speeds; I don’t recall that I ever actually got it out on the highway. I liked the light and balanced handling; it really did feel like a budget Porsche to me.

Surprisingly these don’t seem to sell for much money. This car is priced at the high end. But it looks like a beauty, and I’d call it a bargain.

I am a 67 fastback owner. This car looks to be worth every penny of the asking price. However, I can assure you the exhaust is not original, the armrests seem to have been reworked without the chrome and the door panels do not look to be original. its hard to tell for sure with the low resolution pics. the trunk looks amazingly clean and original. I have never seen one so kept.

I am a 67 fastback owner. This car looks to be worth every penny of the asking price. However, I can assure you the exhaust is not original, the armrests seem to have been reworked without the chrome, and the door panels do not look to be original. its hard to tell for sure with the low resolution pics. the trunk looks amazingly clean and original. I have never seen one so kept.

I am a 67 fastback owner. This car looks to be worth every penny of the asking price. However, I can assurebyou the exhaust is not original, the armrests seem to have been reworked without the chrome and the door panels do not look to be original. its hard to tell for sure with the low resolution pics. the trunk looks amazingly clean and original. I have never seen one so kept.

These are so nice to see, especially in this condition. On the east coast, bring one to a VW show and go home with a trophy- there ain’t no competition!

Virtually none of them survive, and the ones that do often have issues from being the unloved stepchild of the air-cooled family… though none so much as the newer brother, the 411/412 ugly ducklings.

Finding one uncut, untouched, original is rare. One with the original engine is rare. One that is turnkey is rare. The Fastback model itself is unusual to see these days as I think it was often overlooked.

The Beetle and KG, and the various Bus models made up the bulk of sales, and the Type III was always an afterthought- in the dealerships, the literature, the mechanics’ shops, the “Scene”… but someone is going home with this beauty today and will enjoy this one for what it is.

Your car probably “dropped a valve” into the piston. KaBoom! If the previous owner did not regularly adjust the valves it would happen around that mileage. What happens is the exhaust valve adjustment would get tight and reduce valve closure time or closure all together. Then the valve would run very hot since it was not cooling from closing against the valve seat. Eventually the valve would start to burn and the end of the valve would break off. Hence the word KaBoom!

My old VW shop would recommend an oil change every 1500~2000 miles because it had no filter, only a screen. Then points, timing, and a valve adjustment on the 3rd oil change.

Another thing that could have contributed to engine problems is the cooling boot being ripped or missing. There was a rubber boot that connected the cooling fan housing with the body of the car. If that was missing hot air that would exit under the engine would be sucked back in to go through the engine again. The engine keeps running hotter and hotter!

If the valves were regularly adjusted, oil changed, and the air cooling boot was in place, these engines were fairly reliable. The cooling system was better than the beetle.

VCR since you opened the can…I’ll have to disagree about the anemic performance. I daily drove my FI’d 79 in the late 90’s and had no trouble keeping up with traffic and it could cruise the highways at 120 km/hr all day with bleeps of higher speeds when needed.

Must be “Friendly Friday” today – No rants about lack of engine/underbody pics nor statements of anemic performance?

My father was a VW service rep in the day and drove an Orange type 3 as a demo for a time. This was when the somewhat problematic FI was in the mix. As a road warrier in the Canadian Prairies they perfected fine tuning of the gas heaters & FI and put many miles on these things through frigid conditions to the surprise of many.

@DRV Knowing the VW crowd well, I’d be surprised if this Fasty doesn’t get slammed and rimmed after being sold. I myself think that’d be a shame, but luckily with the Type 3 no surgery is required and it could be put back. I just hope someone doesn’t make it a ground scraper, ugh!

It’s amazing how much a step up these were from the Beetle. Nice, though simple, dash, attractive interior, more room. If it was always in the bay area, the lack of available A/C (back when it was a daily driver) is a moot issue.

This style Volkswagen was my first car and was a hoot. Plenty of great memories, took it skiing with four of us in the car and got it up to 70 miles an hour when I got my first speeding ticket. Back in the the day before points and surcharges. Good Luck wonderful machine.

Beautiful car in fantastic condition. I hope the buyer will not “retromodify” it. Typ IIIs in this condition are not around anymore. When these TLs came out in Germany in the 60s we called them “Traurige Loesung” because the fastback styling was not well liked. Looking at it now I just love it.

My family had a sedan Type 3. (a 1965 as I recall). It was better than our ’59 beetle, at least we thought so.

I recall getting the rear trunk/engine compartment open was a challenge. The lever for it was in the driver’s door pillar and was always stuck. Dad could move it. The kids couldn’t. It had a header exhaust. My big brother was given it when he turned 17. He trashed it.

I had a one owner 66 Squareback in exactly this color inside and out. It even had an original wood Empi GT steering wheel. It was garaged it’s whole life as well. The paint was faded on the very rear of the passenger rear fender where the sunlight came through the garage window. I’ve owned 3 squarebacks. I love the type III design. I’ve never owned a fastback as I liked the lines and the utility of the squareback more. This one is beautiful. I can’t imagine selling something like this but the new owner will really have a gem.

As I’ve noted a couple of times before on different Type 3 ads, I learned to drive on a ’71 Squareback and have always loved these cars.

The ultimate accessory, to me, is the VDO tach that matched the faces of the other VDO instruments and replaced the clock in the 3rd instrument pod. I lusted after that, but it was $40 and my parents couldn’t afford it and didn’t see the need.

Find me a Squareback in this condition and I will very possibly do something rash …

The “cool factor” on this car today is through the roof! Yet back in 1966 that was a pretty pedestrian vehicle. I recall these as a kid and never gave them a second thought… But now look at it! Very, very cool.

The car I had when I turned 16! Flip the colors and that’s the car! A ’66 Type III with just 60K miles (this was in the mid-’70s). Even had the stock AM/FM/SW radio in it! It, too, was a one-owner car. Very cool…until the engine let loose in a spectacular fashion after three months of ownership! And that began my love-hate relationship with air-cooled Volkswagens.

This is an example of a vintage automobile that could be used reliably as a “daily driver” with few regrets. It has good bumpers, parts are available, and the asking price is in the range of what one might pay for a second car.

At first glance a wonderfully preserved and unmolested classic car from the days of simple straightforward honest vehicles. I have fond memories of these cars from when they first came out. Oops! I just dated myself. Glad that the owner resisted the temptation to make modifications. I am extremely tempted!

1966 Type 111 models would be 6-volt, while a 1967 would be 12-volt. Both had dual Solex carbs, as 1968 brought fuel injection.

The early ’66-67 Fastback models featured pop-out rear quarter windows, where the leading edge is fixed at the B-pillar. When unlatched and opened, the unhinged window actually allowed the glass to flex. In colder climates, these were known to shatter upon opening. A VW service bulletin suggested a fixed glass replacement. The opening quarter windows on fastbacks were eliminated by 1968 or ’69.

The example on offer looks to be very nice and priced fairly. The aftermarket Hi-Po exhaust doesn’t surprise me, as aftermarket units are considerably cheaper than original.

there’s just something cute about 2-dr. cars with sloping roof and huge rear quarter glass panels (the Ford Sierra 2-dr.has also something to offer in this context).

the Type 3 is a very balanced mixture of big-car attitude with (realistically) slightly-bigger-than-a-Beetle-sized footprint.

the multiple-radius (bubble?) trunklid is also a very cute styling item, something the beetle doesn’t have (so much radius variation on such a small(ish) surface).

the rear trunklid/hood has also some kinky curvature, and combined with the taillight design (especially with this colour), make for some almost custom-level factory “geschmaeck”.

on second thought, if one considers the tremendous change from the styling of the beetle to the Giugiaro penned Golf, the Type3s must have been the crucial ‘transitional link’ in creating the iconic VW image (that now turned the brand into a multi-billion automotive empire).

this fact alone is worthy of donating a much bigger appreciation to these “ugly ducklings” than they actually cherish these days.

the real ingredients of what does turn a brand/image into (almost) a religious following, still remains a mystery to an extent.

btw.the car seems to be beautifully preserved, this one will sell quickly I’d guess?

A beauty! I truly love a well kept, original car and these type 3 VW’s are really cool. Wish I had the money or space for this cutie, it would look great next to my original 59,000 mile 64 Benz fintail. I hope a caring individual buy’s this great time capsule.